The second verb that adds shading rather than meaning
I can recognise a compound verb and its shading
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
वह सो गया।
He fell asleep.
मुझे बता दीजिए।
Do tell me.
मैंने चिट्ठी पढ़ ली।
I read the letter.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
A compound verb is a bare stem followed by a second verb that has given up its own meaning and now only colours the first:
| लेना | the action turns back on the doer | पढ़ लेना - to read (for oneself) |
| देना | the action goes outward, to someone else | बता देना - to tell (someone) |
| जाना | completion, a change of state | सो जाना - to fall asleep |
| डालना | force, decisiveness | लिख डालना - to write it all out |
खा लिया, not खाना लिया. And the second verb carries all the tense and agreement.
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises
Practice ExercisesLeaving the infinitive ending on the first verb, or treating the second verb as carrying its literal meaning.
Keeping -na on the first verb of a compound
The first verb is a bare stem: kha liya, never khana liya.
Reading the second verb literally
The vector verb has no meaning of its own; match it to a Russian prefix instead.
वह सो गया।
He fell asleep.
ja marks the change of state, like the Russian prefix za-.
मुझे बता दीजिए।
Do tell me.
dena sends the action outward, towards the listener.
मैंने चिट्ठी पढ़ ली।
I read the letter.
lena turns the action back on the doer; the bare stem parh takes no -na.
The check for this topic is still being prepared
Ready-made hints are free
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in A2 course exercises
Yamuna Kachru's reference grammar; the descriptive account of aspect, compound verbs and the ergative used here.
Kamta Prasad Guru's grammar, still the standard prescriptive reference for Hindi verb morphology.